


A Break in the Work Day

by rivendellrose



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Married Life, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9135925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivendellrose/pseuds/rivendellrose
Summary: For flarn_chef, who asked for a bit of John and Delenn."Delenn was cute when she worked. Cute, and terrifying."Written and posted on Livejournal in June of 2007.





	

He only had a few minutes between meetings, but there was no question of where he would go, or what he would do with them. Waving off Corwin and a handful of diplomats with vague promises of being right back with them, John Sheridan took the lift straight down to the quarters he shared with Delenn. She’d be busy, of course - she was always busy, lately. They both were. What with everything going on, it was a minor miracle when they could get a few minutes alone to themselves without falling asleep on each others shoulders. But just now, he wasn’t interested in disturbing her. He just wanted to _see_ her... preferably without her noticing him. 

It reminded him of that strange ritual she’d insisted on before their wedding. He’d asked what she could possibly see in a face smashed up against a pillow and drooling, but when he saw her bent over her work, intent and focused, he thought maybe he understood. All the masks seemed to drop. When she worked she was so... She’d kill him if he said, ‘cute,’ wouldn’t she? 

Maybe. She liked the word, though he hadn’t been able to explain it very well - he’d had visions of another war with the Minbari when she read the dictionary entry explaining that the word was usually applied to small children, and could carry connotations of affectedness or self-conscious appeal. Fortunately, she’d found another reference directly beneath that, and looked up from her computer smiling. “A strange word,” she informed him, and then pulled him away with a kiss.

He’d gone back later. Cute could also mean “mentally keen; clever; shrewd.” Delenn could never deny all of those words suiting her. So in that way as well as the ones he’d originally meant when he used the word, yes, Delenn was _cute_ when she worked.

Cute, and terrifying.

Of course he loved her. She was sweet and charming, with a smile that made every damned thing that went wrong in the universe seem like it really couldn’t possibly be all that bad, and a knack for saying exactly what he needed to hear in order to feel like whatever nightmare they were going through might be worth it after all. She was also a brilliant tactician, a wise and charismatic leader, and a downright ingenius diplomat... and a high-ranking member of a species that had brought his own to their knees, and nearly to their end. He wasn’t afraid of her. He was simply conscious of the fact that she wasn’t nearly as harmless as she appeared.

And that, perhaps, was why he liked watching her while she worked. The heart of her dwelled in contradiction - self-effacing pride and dominion by humility. As much as he enjoyed their newfound domesticity, there was a joy in watching Delenn do what she did best, in observing the satisfied smile that tugged at her lips when some ambassador or other finally submitted to the inevitable and accepted whatever position she had charmed, manipulated, or downright bargained them into. People underestimated her, the delicate little Minbari woman, the religious leader and vulnerable beauty. He knew better. 

“I thought your meeting went until seventeen-hundred, John.”

He also knew better than to think he could stay long without being noticed. She’d never even looked up... One of these days, he’d figure out what it was that tipped her off. 

“Yeah. Just taking a breather.” He stepped up behind her, settling hands onto taut, tense shoulders. “Thought I’d stop by.” He breathed a kiss onto her hair. “See if you missed me yet.”

“I do, of course.” She pulled his hand forward and kissed it lightly, her eyes never leaving the computer read-out in front of her. “And I will miss you even more, until your meetings let out for the day.”

“Is that supposed to be a hint?”

“I would not presume to tell the president of the Interplanetary Alliance what to do with his time...”

“Right.” He smiled. “Okay, okay - I’m leaving. See what trying to be a conscientious husband gets me, huh?”

“You may be as conscientious as you like... _later._ ”

He laughed lightly, kissed her hair once more, and turned back to the hall. Promises and diplomacy were the milk of her life, it seemed... and that one word had been filled with enough of the first with the sweetest lack of the latter that he could handle another few hours of boardroom inanity.


End file.
